Headlight-operating apparatus for automobiles.



0.R.TURNER. HEADLIGHT OPERATING APPARATUS FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION IILBD :EB. 9, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Patented Sept. 28, 1909 Witnuuo 5 M A? x m .0 7%

I 0. R. TURNER. HEADLIGHT OPERATING APPARATUS FOR AUTOMOBILES.APPLIUATION FILED FEB. 9, 1909. 935 4351, Patented Sept. 28, 1909.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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- I anoeulcz Oscar 7?, I"?! Witnzooeo @FFECE.

osoan a. rcnnnn, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

HEADLIGHT-OPERATING A PARATU$ FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 28, 1909.

Application filed February 9, 1909. Serial No. 476,893.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Oscar R. TURNER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of. Baltimore and State of Maryland; 5...h-aveinvented new and useful Improvements in.Headlight-Opcrating l-ipparatusfor Automobiles. of which the following is a specification.

lil his inventionrelates to headlight open,

curve, this being due to the tact that the wheels controlled by thesteering apparatus have been moved out of the plane of the lamps o1"headlights, and it isthcreforc an object of my invention to providesimple andnovel apparatus for ell'ectively chang ing the angularposition ot' the headlights or lamps when the automobile or vehicle istaking a. curve. so that the lamps or headlights will be moved to assumea parallel plane. withrespect to the axles.

'A'still further object of my invention is to provde'means so that theapparatus will onlybe operated after movement of the axles oftheiautomobilc or vehicle beyond. a

5 predetermined point, thus allowing the lamps or headlights to remainundisturbed under ordinary circumstances.

1A-still further object of any invention is to pnovidesimple and novemeans for mov- 40 'lflguoperative connections of my invention into :aninoperative position to prevent angulan movement of the lamps orheadlights during the daytime.

- ()therwobjcctsand advantages will-be ap- 45 parent as the nature ofthe invention better'set forth; and it will be understood-that changeswithin the scope of the claims may lie-resorted to without departingfrom the. spirit of the invention.

59 in the drawings, forming a portion of this spedification and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the sev- '6 alviews: Figure 1 is a tront. elevation of the headlightoperatingapparatus, parts bemg shown in sections. Fig. 2 1s a top plan view ofthe complete apparatus. F1gh3 1s a detail vertical section of oneelement of the headlight support. Fig. 4- is a detail section throughthe clamp for connecting the steer- ;ing rod with my improved apparatus.Fig. 5 is a side view of the clamp. Fig. 6 is, a side view of anotherelement formingthe lamp support. Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a portionof one of the headlight supporting elements. Fig. 8 is adetailsideelevation of one of the roller carrying pins.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings there is shown a lamp orheadlight operating apparatus 1 comprising headlight. supportingelements 2 comprising lower cylindrical members 3 secured by means'o'ibolts or the like 4 to automobile rame bars The members 3 are providedwith centrally located passages 6 which receive depending stems 7 ofupper members 8 of said headlight supporting elements. T he members 3are provided with upwardly extending spaced arms 5) having inwardlydirected portions 10 at their upper extremities. The stems T areprovided at their lower ends with clamping nuts 11, and confined betweensaid nuts and the portions 10 of the arms 9 are coil springs 12 for apurpose to be hereinafter more fully described. The members 3 haveformed therein upon their upper t'aces cam grooves or recesses 13disposed radially with respect to the stems 7. The members 8 areprovided with a plurality of vertically disposed passages 14, and keyedI in said passages are elements 15 provided at their lower ends withrevoluble rollers 16, and at the upper ends the elements'15 are threadedas indicated at 17 to be engaged with interiorly threaded nuts 18. Theconstruction thus described is such that the rollers 16 are yieldinglyheld in engagement with the upper faces of the members 3 be tween thecam grooves or recesses 13.

Hearwardly of the elements 2 is shown a bar or rod 15) which ispivotally connected at its outer ends to the rear ends of rods or bars20. The 'rods are fined at their forward ends to the members 8 of theelements 2 so that in horizontal movement of the bar or rod 19 the barsor rods 20 will be simultaneously moved to lie in parallel relation toeach other. One of the bars of the automobile or vehicle frame hassecured thereto in any suitable manner a bracket 21 to which ispivotally secured an oscillatory member 22 having a forked-upper end 23and a similar lower end-24:. An automobile steering rod is shown at 25and has secured thereto a clamp 26 having atone side a lag 27. withwhichis engaged apin. 28 having loosely mounted thereon an anti-frictionroller 29. The rod or bar '19 is provided with a guide member 30provided with a horizontally disposed-rectangular slot 31. The rod orbar 19 v has slid'ably mounted thereon a block 32 provided with rollers33 adapted to travel upon the upper and lower walls of the slot-31.

The block 32 has removably secured thereto a pin 8 1 upon which ismounted a roller 35 similar to the roller 29. The roller 29 is disposedbetween the arms of .the forked lower end 2 1 of the oscillatory member22,

and the roller 35 is disposed between the arms ofthe forked portion 23of said memher 22. The rod 'or bar 19 is preferably provided with anannular groove 36,. and as shown the guide member is provided withanadjusting screw 37 having areduced portion 38 to befengaged between thewalls of the groove p'ortion36 ofithe rod or bar 19 so thatv the'saidguide member 30 canbe effectively held upon the rod or bar 19 againstlongitudinal sliding movement. The members 8 of the elements 2 areprovided with interiorly threaded bosses 38 adapted to receiveheadlight-clamping rods or the like, not shown.

In operation, it will be seen that when the steering rod 25 is actuatedto change; the an-.

I gle'of the wheels with. respect to the body of 40 the automobile orvehicle movement imparted to the clamp 26 will oscillate the member '22,and in view of the connections between the'block 32 and the said member22 the former willbe moved upon the bar or rod 19 untilit reaches one ofthe end walls of the slot 31, after which, further oscillatory movementof the member 22 will movethe bar or rod 19 horizontally, and in I Viewof the pivotal connections between said bar or rod 19 and the rods 20,the said last named rods will. be simultaneously moved to lie inparallel relation to each other and in a plane with the wheels of theautomobile or vehicle which are actuated by the steerirpg rod 25. Whenthe rods 20 have been thus actuatedt-he members 8 of the elements 2 willof course be revolved and the roller carrying element 15 will be movedso that the roller 16 'can be effectively placed in the cam grooves orrecesses 13 formed in the memers 3 of the elements 2, the springs 12serv -ing to properly position theiroller 16 and to yieldingly holdthemin'saidj' grooves or recesses, thus causing the headlights or lamps toremain in one position until the steering apparatus or red 25 thereof isactuated to again change the position of the automobile steering wheels.Should it be desired to throw the headlight operating apparatus intoinoperative position, the set screw 37 is released from the rod or bar19, and the guide element 30 revolved manually upon the rod or bar 19 tothrow the roller 35 out of engagement with the forked upper end of theoscillatory member 22.

I claim 1. In combination with avehicle steering rod, and revolubleheadlight supporting ele- I ments, of a rod pivotally connected at itsends to saidelements, a guide element upon said rod, a guide block, saidguide element having a slotformed therein for-receiving said guideblock, ail oscillatory member con.- necting the steering, rod with theguide block, and means for allowing the guide element to be rotated uponsaid rod to disengage the oscillatory member from said guide block.- I

2. An apparatus of the class described comprising headlight supportingelements,

each element comprlsing a'member adapted wardly extending arms carriedby the fixed members. v

3. An apparatus of the class described comprising revoluble headlightsupporting elements, a rod pivotally connectedat its ends to saidelements, a guide element upon said rod, said guide element having aslot formed therein, and steering rod actuated means movable in the slotand adapted to engage the guide element to actuate said first named rod.

4; An apparatus of the class described comprising revoluble headlightsupporting means, a rod connected at its ends to said means, a guideblock carried by said rod and,

normally fixed thereto, steering rod actuated means slidably mountedupon the rod adapted to be engaged with the guide block to actuate, thesaid rod so as to revolve the said headlight supporting means, and'meansrod for holding the guide block in its operative position, said meansbeing adapted to be released from the rod so that the guide block can bemoved intoan inoperative-position.

5. Apparatus of the class described comprising revolubly mountedheadlight sup-Q 'carried by the guide block-for engaging the porting mssus, a rod ivotail'y connected at f and for engaging the same with saidguide its ends to said means, aguide block mountblock. s 10 ed upon therod and provided with a longi- In testimony whereof I affix my signaturecudinally extemling siot, a slidable and revoin presence Qf twoWitnesses. luble block upon the said rod and disposed OSCAR R. TURNER.

in the slotformed in said guide block, and Witnessesz' steering rodactuated means for controlling J. P. CURLEY,

the movement of said second named block L. H.MAYER,J1'.

